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This was largely my thought behind the move. Given that GitHub is quite proudly built on Ruby, I can't see them wanting to switch things up from a tech perspec

This was largely my thought behind the move. Given that GitHub is quite proudly built on Ruby, I can't see them wanting to switch things up from a tech perspective. GitHub is stable, and it's tech stack is capable of staying up despite some major DDoS attacks. If anything, I think this is an opportunity for Microsoft to introduce themselves to the Ruby and Rails teams, and to finally resolve the issues that stop Windows from being a first-class citizen in the Ruby world. If they can do this through both Windows and the Windows Subsystem for Linux then I think they'll be on to a winner. It's a capture of a much-loved service, and an opportunity to bring a mature set of tools into their domain.

notimetorelax 8y ago
I work for Microsoft, we run systems that are not built on MS technologies. There’s absolutely no push for migration. In my opinion, no-one will pressure GitHub to change their stack, it would be a suicide. Disclaimer: this is just my personal opinion.
- rubbingalcohol 8y ago
  So you have inside knowledge of their business purpose in aquiring GitHub? Are you posting this in an official capacity as a representative of the company? Or do you not really know and just elevating your two cents using the name of your employer?
  - notimetorelax 8y ago
    I have absolutely no knowledge of the deal. I’m commenting on the tech stack discussion, given my experience in the company and if GitHub joins, I’m 99.99% sure they will stay on the tech stack that they have today. Look at LinkedIn, it is still running on Scala.
    - pscsbs 8y ago
      Minor clarification: LinkedIn primarily runs on Java not Scala.
    - ludston 8y ago
      It's generally not a good idea to make unofficial statements about the choices your employer might take in the future, especially if your employer is a public company. There are some weird legal things that can happen. (e.g. If you say, "Microsoft is going to support technology XYZ" and then someone buys shares in technology XYZ because you said this, and then Microsoft doesn't do this, are you liable?)
      - notimetorelax 8y ago
        Thank you for this, I should have put a disclaimer.
  - DevKoala 8y ago
    I do have a bit of experience in acquisitions, and revenue is king, for which you have to move fast; changing the stack of an already working system would be suicide. Definitely expect more native GitHub integrations in Azure, and Azure first tools.
- tootie 8y ago
  I was looking at draft.sh from the Azure open source team and the current (very early) version literally only works on Mac. The only install method listed is Homebrew.
  - bacongobbler 8y ago
    Actually we have release assets for Mac, Windows, and Linux with support for 64-bit and ARM architectures. Someone from the community added Chocolatey support not too long ago. :) Disclaimer: I am one of the core maintainers of Draft.
    - tootie 8y ago
      Oh, nice! Please update your docs. Releasing code is worthless if no one knows how to get it.
      - bacongobbler 8y ago
        Thanks for the feedback! I'm currently going through the docs and re-vamping them as we speak in https://github.com/Azure/draft/pull/770 https://github.com/Azure/draft/pull/770. For now https://github.com/Azure/draft/blob/master/docs/quickstart.md#install-and-configure-draft https://github.com/Azure/draft/blob/master/docs/quickstart.m... is the canonical list of options to install Draft.
        tootie 8y ago
        Awesome thanks. Would you recommend WSL for my dockering on Win 10 or stick to Powershell.
        bacongobbler 8y ago
        Do what tickles your fancy.
- IMcD23 8y ago
  Aside from Wunderlist, who was acquired and running on AWS, and had to switch to Azure and rewrite a bunch of their code to become ToDo.
  - zeusk 8y ago
    The scale of products you're talking about are vastly different. Meanwhile, I'd really like for people to stop hating Microsoft just because "Microsoft".
    - zxcvhjkl 8y ago
      > Meanwhile, I'd really like for people to stop hating Microsoft just because "Microsoft" Why is that? Why should people forget how evil MS was and still is?
      - zeusk 8y ago
        > Why is that? Why should people forget how evil MS was and still is? I'm not asking for that, but making wild baseless predictions of how the service will go to shitter or how suddenly all private code will be ripped off and "I'm going to gitlab now, because Microsoft sucks!" is not part of a healthy discussion. I do have some privacy concerns but they're no less than when Github was not owned by an enterprise software company; If anything I'd be more concerned about privacy if it were Google or Facebook making this acquisition.
        feanaro 8y ago
        > I'm not asking for that, but making wild baseless predictions of how the service will go to shitter or how suddenly all private code will be ripped off and "I'm going to gitlab now, because Microsoft sucks!" is not part of a healthy discussion. But they're not baseless predictions, they're based on past information and it tells us it would be prudent to minimize reliance of Github sooner rather than later.
        zxcvhjkl 8y ago
        People base their expectations on past performance. And for MS it hasn’t been stellar. But there is no need for speculation; we will wait and see. The problem is deeper than that though. Unless you were developing an Editor or a Git hosting service, you were not in direct competition with GitHub. Suddenly a lot of startups will find their private code hosted by a direct competitor. I wouldn’t feel comfortable if I was them.
- exmsft_throw32 8y ago
  Not right away, but eventually MS "old boy network" cancer will metastasize there and push all the good people out, just like it did in every single other acquisition. This problem is not unique to Microsoft: other large companies have it too. But it is more acute, because at MS the old boys network is utterly incompetent, completely entrenched, and the company is 100% top-down. Frontline devs are expected to do as they are told, and are considered to be expendable "resources". In contrast, at SV companies managers are more expendable than good engineers.
- bumblebritches5 8y ago
  Except minecraft...
evilDagmar 8y ago
Reminder: That didn't stop them from converting HoTMail over to NT/Exchange.
- oldcynic 8y ago
  How many times did they try and publicly fail first? Two or three? Excellent validation for choosing FreeBSD and Apache for your 1999 startup. At least two announcements that it was "complete" turned out to be lies. Years later the back end was still on FreeBSD and Solaris, but the front end was on Win 2000 using Windows Services for UNIX.
- ascorbic 8y ago
  Twenty years ago!
  - dogma1138 8y ago
    It took them about 20 years to do so also.
stuntkite 8y ago
Microsoft bought one of my favorite pieces of cloud software from a few years ago Deis[1]. With that they also got Helm[2] with the purchase. They are doing GREAT with Helm and are going in a different direction that looks super cool as they mothball Deis called Draft[3]. They are moving away from the OS company they used to be and betting heavily on cloud technologies and I think this Github purchase makes sense. Github has been stagnate for years. MS is embracing open source in a way they haven't before, and I think they are doing so in a way that is going to surprise people. In NO way am I a Microsoft fan boy. I've been windows free going on a decade. I run Linux Mint and OSX as my primary desktop environments. Apple is burning me hard, the way the computing world is going to change in the next couple years, cluster technology is going to be at it's core and we are going to see some very different things grow out of it. I'm as shocked as anyone to see MS play nice with linux and especially contribute how they have to Kubernetes; which I think is the largest open source project in the world right now? What if MS dumped resources into world class CI tools to go with Github? What if they made a Github open source module and would let you federate your content? I could see this being a really interesting thing. They could also screw us all, but under their current management I think they are getting ready to be competitive in an emergent environment that can't exist without open source. [1] https://deis.com https://deis.com [2] https://docs.helm.sh/using_helm/ https://docs.helm.sh/using_helm/ [3] https://github.com/Azure/draft https://github.com/Azure/draft
- jopsen 8y ago
  > What if they made a Github open source module and would let you federate your content? Wow, that's optimistic! I'd be happy if they just keep it neutral. Fact is all the big vendors publish and collaborate on github, this purchase threatens that ecosystem. And we are more likely to see a message of private code hosting sites, than a solid federation system for source control.
  - stuntkite 8y ago
    I don't disagree with you on the threat to our ecosystem, but I think Github has been treading water for a while. I'm really excited to see Gitlab step up, especially with the traction they are getting from the diaspora, but I don't know that they will. There are a ton of reasons people won't take Gitlab seriously as a replacement right now. I hope they find a way to take their tools and this new attention and produce what we all really want. I think at this exact moment, there is a really interesting space that can be filled by a FOSS Github alternative. I think a new player might be better equipped to offer it. Maybe someone can build something off of Keybase's[1] git services. I am sad to see an independent voice go, but I don't think Github has been able to stay competitive and IMO this could be a good thing. That remains to be seen, but regardless of Gitlab's ability or what MS might do, I think there is a vacuum left that I'm hoping we can fill as a community and I'll put my effort and dollar behind whatever shows up to do it. Someone should ask Linus what he thinks about git federation. Maybe he can save us from ourselves again. [1] https://keybase.io/blog/encrypted-git-for-everyone https://keybase.io/blog/encrypted-git-for-everyone
jschulenklopper 8y ago
> Given that GitHub is quite proudly built on Ruby And for that matter, GitLab as well :-)

notimetorelax 8y ago

I work for Microsoft, we run systems that are not built on MS technologies. There’s absolutely no push for migration. In my opinion, no-one will pressure GitHub to change their stack, it would be a suicide. Disclaimer: this is just my personal opinion.

rubbingalcohol 8y ago
So you have inside knowledge of their business purpose in aquiring GitHub? Are you posting this in an official capacity as a representative of the company? Or do you not really know and just elevating your two cents using the name of your employer?
- notimetorelax 8y ago
  I have absolutely no knowledge of the deal. I’m commenting on the tech stack discussion, given my experience in the company and if GitHub joins, I’m 99.99% sure they will stay on the tech stack that they have today. Look at LinkedIn, it is still running on Scala.
  - pscsbs 8y ago
    Minor clarification: LinkedIn primarily runs on Java not Scala.
  - ludston 8y ago
    It's generally not a good idea to make unofficial statements about the choices your employer might take in the future, especially if your employer is a public company. There are some weird legal things that can happen. (e.g. If you say, "Microsoft is going to support technology XYZ" and then someone buys shares in technology XYZ because you said this, and then Microsoft doesn't do this, are you liable?)
    - notimetorelax 8y ago
      Thank you for this, I should have put a disclaimer.
- DevKoala 8y ago
  I do have a bit of experience in acquisitions, and revenue is king, for which you have to move fast; changing the stack of an already working system would be suicide. Definitely expect more native GitHub integrations in Azure, and Azure first tools.
tootie 8y ago
I was looking at draft.sh from the Azure open source team and the current (very early) version literally only works on Mac. The only install method listed is Homebrew.
- bacongobbler 8y ago
  Actually we have release assets for Mac, Windows, and Linux with support for 64-bit and ARM architectures. Someone from the community added Chocolatey support not too long ago. :) Disclaimer: I am one of the core maintainers of Draft.
  - tootie 8y ago
    Oh, nice! Please update your docs. Releasing code is worthless if no one knows how to get it.
    - bacongobbler 8y ago
      Thanks for the feedback! I'm currently going through the docs and re-vamping them as we speak in https://github.com/Azure/draft/pull/770 https://github.com/Azure/draft/pull/770. For now https://github.com/Azure/draft/blob/master/docs/quickstart.md#install-and-configure-draft https://github.com/Azure/draft/blob/master/docs/quickstart.m... is the canonical list of options to install Draft.
      - tootie 8y ago
        Awesome thanks. Would you recommend WSL for my dockering on Win 10 or stick to Powershell.
        bacongobbler 8y ago
        Do what tickles your fancy.
IMcD23 8y ago
Aside from Wunderlist, who was acquired and running on AWS, and had to switch to Azure and rewrite a bunch of their code to become ToDo.
- zeusk 8y ago
  The scale of products you're talking about are vastly different. Meanwhile, I'd really like for people to stop hating Microsoft just because "Microsoft".
  - zxcvhjkl 8y ago
    > Meanwhile, I'd really like for people to stop hating Microsoft just because "Microsoft" Why is that? Why should people forget how evil MS was and still is?
    - zeusk 8y ago
      > Why is that? Why should people forget how evil MS was and still is? I'm not asking for that, but making wild baseless predictions of how the service will go to shitter or how suddenly all private code will be ripped off and "I'm going to gitlab now, because Microsoft sucks!" is not part of a healthy discussion. I do have some privacy concerns but they're no less than when Github was not owned by an enterprise software company; If anything I'd be more concerned about privacy if it were Google or Facebook making this acquisition.
      - feanaro 8y ago
        > I'm not asking for that, but making wild baseless predictions of how the service will go to shitter or how suddenly all private code will be ripped off and "I'm going to gitlab now, because Microsoft sucks!" is not part of a healthy discussion. But they're not baseless predictions, they're based on past information and it tells us it would be prudent to minimize reliance of Github sooner rather than later.
      - zxcvhjkl 8y ago
        People base their expectations on past performance. And for MS it hasn’t been stellar. But there is no need for speculation; we will wait and see. The problem is deeper than that though. Unless you were developing an Editor or a Git hosting service, you were not in direct competition with GitHub. Suddenly a lot of startups will find their private code hosted by a direct competitor. I wouldn’t feel comfortable if I was them.
exmsft_throw32 8y ago
Not right away, but eventually MS "old boy network" cancer will metastasize there and push all the good people out, just like it did in every single other acquisition. This problem is not unique to Microsoft: other large companies have it too. But it is more acute, because at MS the old boys network is utterly incompetent, completely entrenched, and the company is 100% top-down. Frontline devs are expected to do as they are told, and are considered to be expendable "resources". In contrast, at SV companies managers are more expendable than good engineers.
bumblebritches5 8y ago
Except minecraft...

evilDagmar 8y ago

Reminder: That didn't stop them from converting HoTMail over to NT/Exchange.

oldcynic 8y ago
How many times did they try and publicly fail first? Two or three? Excellent validation for choosing FreeBSD and Apache for your 1999 startup. At least two announcements that it was "complete" turned out to be lies. Years later the back end was still on FreeBSD and Solaris, but the front end was on Win 2000 using Windows Services for UNIX.
ascorbic 8y ago
Twenty years ago!
- dogma1138 8y ago
  It took them about 20 years to do so also.

stuntkite 8y ago

Microsoft bought one of my favorite pieces of cloud software from a few years ago Deis[1]. With that they also got Helm[2] with the purchase. They are doing GREAT with Helm and are going in a different direction that looks super cool as they mothball Deis called Draft[3]. They are moving away from the OS company they used to be and betting heavily on cloud technologies and I think this Github purchase makes sense. Github has been stagnate for years. MS is embracing open source in a way they haven't before, and I think they are doing so in a way that is going to surprise people. In NO way am I a Microsoft fan boy. I've been windows free going on a decade. I run Linux Mint and OSX as my primary desktop environments. Apple is burning me hard, the way the computing world is going to change in the next couple years, cluster technology is going to be at it's core and we are going to see some very different things grow out of it. I'm as shocked as anyone to see MS play nice with linux and especially contribute how they have to Kubernetes; which I think is the largest open source project in the world right now? What if MS dumped resources into world class CI tools to go with Github? What if they made a Github open source module and would let you federate your content? I could see this being a really interesting thing. They could also screw us all, but under their current management I think they are getting ready to be competitive in an emergent environment that can't exist without open source. [1] https://deis.com https://deis.com [2] https://docs.helm.sh/using_helm/ https://docs.helm.sh/using_helm/ [3] https://github.com/Azure/draft https://github.com/Azure/draft

jopsen 8y ago
> What if they made a Github open source module and would let you federate your content? Wow, that's optimistic! I'd be happy if they just keep it neutral. Fact is all the big vendors publish and collaborate on github, this purchase threatens that ecosystem. And we are more likely to see a message of private code hosting sites, than a solid federation system for source control.
- stuntkite 8y ago
  I don't disagree with you on the threat to our ecosystem, but I think Github has been treading water for a while. I'm really excited to see Gitlab step up, especially with the traction they are getting from the diaspora, but I don't know that they will. There are a ton of reasons people won't take Gitlab seriously as a replacement right now. I hope they find a way to take their tools and this new attention and produce what we all really want. I think at this exact moment, there is a really interesting space that can be filled by a FOSS Github alternative. I think a new player might be better equipped to offer it. Maybe someone can build something off of Keybase's[1] git services. I am sad to see an independent voice go, but I don't think Github has been able to stay competitive and IMO this could be a good thing. That remains to be seen, but regardless of Gitlab's ability or what MS might do, I think there is a vacuum left that I'm hoping we can fill as a community and I'll put my effort and dollar behind whatever shows up to do it. Someone should ask Linus what he thinks about git federation. Maybe he can save us from ourselves again. [1] https://keybase.io/blog/encrypted-git-for-everyone https://keybase.io/blog/encrypted-git-for-everyone

jschulenklopper 8y ago

> Given that GitHub is quite proudly built on Ruby And for that matter, GitLab as well :-)